Labeling apparatus



June 5, 1945. e. w. VON HOFE LABELING APPARATUS Original Filed May 16, 1940 IN V EN TOR. 450E615 IK Vo/V //ar 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 A TTORNEY l I I June 5, 1945.

G. W. VON HOFE LABELING APPARATUS Original FiledMay 16, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Va, WM 5 6 14 T TOR/VEY Patented June 5, 1945 LABELING APPARATUS George W. von Hole, Bound Brook, N. J., assignor to New Jersey Machine Corporation, Hoboken, N. .L, a corporation of New Jersey Original application May 16, 1940, Serial No.

335,464. Divided and this application September 4, 1941, Serial No. 409,451

4 Claims.

The invention relates to labeling apparatus embodied in labeling machines and more partisularh to labeling apparatus which includes iabel carrying means movable in a given manner for instance to transfer the labels from a label supply or pick-up station to a label applying station for application to the articles for which said labels are designed. The invention has for its object to provide novel means whereby the travel of the label carrying means. is temporarily arrested at an intermediate point of its travel, as for instance a predetermined point between the aforesaid label supply or pick-up station and the label applying station. The invention contemplates further the provision of novel locking means whereby the position of said label. carrying means at the arresting point is definitely predetermined and whereby said label carrying means is temporarily locked in said position with recurrent accuracy throughout repeated operative steps during an operative period of the labeling machine.

Other more specific objects will appear from the description hereinafter and the features of novelty will be pointed out in the claims.

This application is a division of another application filed by me in the United States Patent Office on May 16, 1940, Serial No. 335,464, and issued on April 28, 1942 as Patent No. 2 281;- 397.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an example of the invention and its application without defining its limits,

Fig, l. is a side elevation partly broken away and in section, of a labeling machine with the rr-ovel arresting and locking means embodied therein;

Fig. 2 is an opposite side elevation of said laheling machine including the novel arresting and locking means with parts of the labeling machine unnecessary to the illustration'of said means omitted;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the labeling machine and the novel arresting and locking means, and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the novel locking means.

For purposes of illustration and description the novel means are shown in a labeling machine of the type in which the label carrying means is reciprocated over a horizontal path between two opposite terminals as exemplified for instance by a label pick-up station and a label applying station. It is to be understood that the selected labeling machine and the specific form of the arresting and locking means shown therein are in no sense intended to define the limits of the invention.

The labeling machine shown in the drawings comprises a suitable frame ill on which a supply of labels H is supported in the'form of a stack located in a container or hopper l2 mounted in any conventional manner on the frame ill at the label pick-up station of the machine. Suitable provision is made in the customary manner for periodically elevating the stack of labels II in the container I2 to restore the upper end of said stack to a predetermined level; as the means whereby this periodical elevation of the stack of labels H is accomplished may be of any existing type and as said means per se does not constitute a part of the novel arresting and locking means, it has not been deemed necessary to show said elevating means in detail. At the label applying station the machine is provided with a conventional support I3 suitably mounted on the frame ill or otherwise arranged for supporting the articles to be labeled, in label receiving position at said applying station.

The labeling machine further includes carrying means for transferring the labels II in in-. dividual succession from the pick-up station to the applying station for application to the articles on the support [3 thereat.

As shown in the drawings, the label carrying means is of the suction operated type and includes a carriage l4 slidably mounted upon a horizontal guide rail i5 supported on the frame ID in any convenient manner. The carriage I4 is reciprocated on the rail 15 between two opposite terminals exemplified in the instant case by the label pick-up station at which the supply of labels II is located, and the label applying station at which the support l3 for the articles to be located is positioned. For reciprocating the carriage H on the rail IS, an arm i6 is fixed upon a shaft 11 suitably journalled on the frame l0, said arm l6 being yieldingly connected with the carriage It by means of a coupling rod i8 and coil springs IS. The shaft ii is operatively rocked on its axis by means of a toothed segment 20 which meshes with a rack vertically movable in a guide 22 suitably located upon the frame ID. The rack 2| forms part of an operating member 23 formed at its lower end to straddle a driving shaft 24 rotatably mounted in conventional bearings on the frame Ill. The operating member 23 carries a roller 25 in operative engagement with a cam 26 fixed upon the shaft 24.

As the shaft 24 and the cam 28 are rotated,

the latter will in co-operation with the roller operate the rack 2| vertically to thereby rock the segment 2| and it shaft II. on the axis of the latter. This will oscillate the arm II and through the medium of the coupling rod I. will cause the carriage I4 to be moved backward and forward or, in other words, to be reciprocated on the rail i5 between the aforesaid two opposite terminals.

The carriage l4 serves as a support for a vertically movable member 21 provided at its lower end with a suction head 21 connected by means of a preferably flexible tube 28 with a source of suction, it being understoodv that provision is made in any well-known way to control the suction in the suction head 21 in proper synchronism with the other operations of the machine. When the carriage I4 is temporarily at rest, at the opposite terminals as exemplified by the pick-up station, and the label applying station, the suction head 21 is lowered and raised on the carriage i4 to pick up individual labels from the supply stack and to deposit said labels upon the articles on the support It at thelabel applying station. These operations of the suction head may be accomplished by conventional means indicated at 28 and requiring no detail description as per se it forms no part of .the instant invention. As the carriage i4 travels in one direction on the rail I, that is in the-present instance toward the label applying station, the travel of said carriage will be temporarily arrested at a predetermined intermediate point between the label pick-up station or label applying station, or in other words, between the two opposite terminals for the purpose for instance of permitting a code character or designation to be imprinted or otherwise produced upon the label carried by the suction head 21 at the time; the imprinting or other device is diagrammatically indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Subsequently to the temporary rest period of the carriage l4, the travel thereof toward the label applying station is continued. The means whereby the aforesaid temporary arresting of the travel of the carriage I4 is brought about comprises a dwell section a with which the cam 26 is provided and which is arranged in co-operation with the roller 25 and the operating member 29 with its associated elements, to arrest the movement of the carriage l4 0n the rail l5 and to re-' tain said carriage in this position of rest for a predetermined time period sufficient for instance to permit the aforesaid code character or designation to be imprinted on the particular label carried at the time. 7

For the purpose of locking the carriage l4 and the suction head 21 carried thereby in the arrested position with recurrent accuracy, a locking means is provided which operates in predeter-' mined synchronism with the arresting'means and and carriage always at exactly the same predetermined point. This result is secured regardless of slight variations in the position at which the carriage and suction head are temporarily arrested by the dwell section a of the cam 26-and the elements co-operating therewith; any adjustment in the arrested position by the action of the locking means made necessary because of the aforesaid variations is possible because of on. the suction head 21 and preferably tapering inward for co-operation with a movable locking slot 31 formed in the guide 34 and connectedv with the forked end 88 Of a bell crank lever The latter is pivotally mounted at 40 upon the bracket and at 4 i is pivotally connected with one endof anoperating rod 42 the other end of which is pivotally connected at 48 with an arm 44 fixed upon a rocker shaft 45. This shaft is journalled in a bearing fixed by means of'a bracket 41 upon the frame Iii; the shaft 45 further carries a lever 48 provided at its free end with a roller 49 held in contact with a cam II by means of a spring ii. The cam 50 is secured upon the shaft 24 and includes a relatively low concentric section b and a relatively high concentric section 0 as shown in Fig. 1.

The labeling machine further includes adhesive applyingmeans II of conventional form whereby a coating of adhesive is applied to each label as it is carried by the suction head 21 or its equivalent toward the label applying station. The arrangement is such that the suction head 21 occupies a raised position during the return movement of the carriage I4 toward the pick-up station or equivalent terminal; an arrangement of the indicated type is shown in my United States Patent No. 2,227,816 of January 7, 1941. In addition the machine may include a pressure developing means 52 of any well-known type, as well as any other features commonly found in such machines.

In the position of the parts shown in the drawings the carriage i4 and the suction head 21 are 40 shown as temporarily arrested at an intermediate insures a temporarystoppage of the suction head point between the opposite terminals as represented by the pick-up station and the label applying station and are temporarily locked in this position by the aforesaid locking means. As the operation of the labeling machine continues, and subsequent for instance to the imprinting or other production of a code character or designation on the particular label carried by the suction head at the time, the roller 49 of the lever 4| will pass from the low section b of the cam II to the high section c thereof. The lever 42 will thereby be pivotally moved downwardly in Fig. 1 against the tension of the spring 5! and will rock the shaft 45 in its bearing 46 to correspondingly move the arm 44 in a downward direction. This will pull the rod 42 downwardly and will pivotally actuate the bell-crank lever 39 in a manner to shift the locking bolt 32 to theright in the guide 34 in Fig. 3 to thereby withdraw the tapered end 23 of the locking bolt 32 from the locking recess ll of the suctionhead 21. In proper operated synchronism with these operations the roller 2! of the operating member 28 will pass from the dwell section a of the cam 2 whereby the rack 2 i, will be moved in a continuing upward direction to thereby operate the toothed segment 2|] in a manner to swing the arm It to the left in Fig. 1 whereby movement of the carriage toward the label applying station is resumed and continued until this station is reached. Subsequently to the deposit of the particular label upon the article at said labeling point, the apparatus is operated the coil springs It. In the illustrated'example, 1

the locking means under discussion consists of a locking recess 8i provided at a suitable point to cause the parts to be operated in return directionsand toshift the carriage l4 with its suction head 2'! in a raised position back to the label pick-up station to there pick up the next succeeding terminal label from the supply stack after which the carriage l4 and suction head 21 are again moved toward the label applying station. As the roller 25 reaches the dwell section a of the cam 24 the travel of the carriage l4 and its suction head 21 wlll again be temporarily arrested at the aforesaid intermediate point between the opposite terminals. During the movement of the carriage l4 toward the label applying station, the label carried by the suction head 21 will pass in adhesive receiving relation to adhesive applying means ila to receive an application of adhesive therefrom. The adhesive applying means Ila is effective at a point in predetermined relation to the point at which the travel of carriage l 4 is temporarily arrested, and the application of adhesive to the carried label preferably takes place in advance of the aforesaid temporary arrest of the travel of said carriage l4. In proper synchronism with these operations the roller 49 will pass from the high section c of the cam ill to the low section b thereof. The lever 48 and arm 44 will thereby be pivotally actuated to develop an upward push in the rod 42 which in turn will swing the bell crank lever 39 in a manner to shift the locking bolt 32 to the left in the guide 34 in Fig. 3. This will cause the tapered end 33 of said locking bolt 32 to enter the correspondingly tapered locking recess 3| of the suction head 21 and thereby temporarily lock the latter and with it the carriage l4 in the arrested position. Because of the tapered form of the locking recess 3| and the tapered end 33 of the locking bolt 32, the said tapered end 33 and tapered recess 3| in co-operation with each other will develop a camming force whereby the suction head 21 is set with recurrent accuracy in the arrested position. In other words, any slight variations in this position resulting from the action of the arresting means will be corrected. At the end of the predetermined period of rest the locking bolt 32 will be withdrawn from the locking recess 3| and the travel of the carriage l4 and suction head 2'! toward the label applying station will be resumed. The aforesaid cycle of operations will be repeated throughout an operative period of the machine.

With the novel arrangement it is possible to temporarily arrest the travel of the label carrying means at a predetermined intermediate point for a given operative purpose, such as set forth hereinbefore, and to then resume and continue the travel of said carrying means to a terminal. To insure recurrent accuracy in the arrested position of the carrying means the simple and novel looking means described herein operates in proper synchronism with the aforesaid arresting means. The novel arresting and locking means may be readily installed in existing labeling machines with a minimum of expense and with little effort, and require no particularly expert supervision in their operation.

Various changes in the specific forms shown and described may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

plane and being arranged to temporarily arrest the movement of said vacuum head at an intermediate point of its movement for the performance during said temporary arrest, of an associate step in the cycle of operations on the exposed surface of the successive labels transferred by said vacuum head, and an adhesive-applying device for applying adhesive to the exposed surface of each label carried by said vacuum head during the movement of the latter in said plane.

2. In a labeling apparatus, the combination of a label carrying means reciprocable over a given path between two terminals to transfer successive labels from one terminal to the other, operating means for reciprocating said label carrying means between said terminals, said operating means without interruption of its own operation being arranged to temporarily arrest the travel of said label carrying means in the label transferring direction at a predetermined point between said terminals for the performance, during said temporary arrest, of an associate step in the cycle of operations on the exposed surface of the successive labels transferred by said label carrying means, and to effect a continuous travel of said carrying means in the opposite direction, and means for applying adhesive to a label carried on said label carrying means, said adhesive applying means being effective at a point in predetermined relation to the point at which the travel of said label carrying means is temporarily arrested.

3. In a labeling apparatus, the combination of a label carrying means reciprocable over a given path between two terminals to transfer successive labels from one terminal to the other, operating means for reciprocating said label carrying means between said terminals, said operating means without interruption of its own operation being arranged to temporarily arrest the travel of said label carrying means in the label transferring direction at a predetermined point between said terminals for the performance, during said temporary arrest, of an associate step in the cycle of operations on the exposed surface of the successive labels transferred by said label carrying means, and to effect a continuous travel of said carrying means in the opposite direction,

and means for applying adhesive to a label carrled on said label carrying means, said adhesive applying means being effective at a point in advance of the aforesaid temporary arrest of the travel of said label carrying means.

4. In a labeling apparatus, the combination of a label carrying means reciprocable over a given path between two terminals to transfer successive labels from one terminal to the other, operating means for reciprocating said label carrying means between said terminals, said operating means without interruption of its own operation, being arranged to temporarily arrest the travel of said label carrying means in the label transferring direction at a predetermined point between said terminals for the performance, during said temporary arrest, of an associate step in the cycle of operations on the exposed surface of the successive labels transferred by said label carrying means, means for temporarily locking said label 1. In a labeling apparatus, the combination of carrying means in its arrested position, and means for applying adhesive to a label carried on said carrying means rior to the temporary locking of the latter in its arrested position.

GEORGE W. von' HOPE. 

